Gay bishop, Gene Robinson, to speak at Obama's Inauguration kickoff
Mon. January 12, 2009 12:00 AM by Kevin Wayne
the right reverend v. gene robinson
photo credit // wikipedia.org
Washington, DC -
New Hampshire Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson, a vocal gay rights leader and the first openly-gay Episcopal Bishop, will open President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration with a prayer on Sunday's kick-off event at the Lincoln Memorial.
"I am writing to tell you that President-Elect Obama and the Inaugural Committee have invited me to give the invocation at the opening event of the Inaugural Week activities, We are One, to be held at the Lincoln Memorial," Robinson wrote in an email.
The announcement comes after weeks of outcry from the LGBT community over Obama's choice of evangelical pastor Rick Warren to deliver the inaugural invocation.
Warren, who is pastor of the Saddleback Church in Southern California, spoke several times in favor of Proposition 8 and likened gay marriage to polygamy and marriage to children.
"The president-elect has respect for the Rt. Rev. Robinson, who offered his advice and counsel over the past couple of years," an inaugural official told The Politico Web site. "It also has the benefit of further reinforcing our commitment to an open and inclusive inaugural."
"I am humbled and overjoyed at this invitation, and it will be my great honor to be there representing the Episcopal Church, the people of New Hampshire, and all of us in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community," added Robinson.
Robinson said he would love to sit down with Rick Warren but believed that the California pastor has "perpetrated lies about the gay, lesbian and bisexual community."
The event is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. Sunday. The inauguration will be two days later, on Jan. 20.
"I am writing to tell you that President-Elect Obama and the Inaugural Committee have invited me to give the invocation at the opening event of the Inaugural Week activities, We are One, to be held at the Lincoln Memorial," Robinson wrote in an email.
The announcement comes after weeks of outcry from the LGBT community over Obama's choice of evangelical pastor Rick Warren to deliver the inaugural invocation.
Warren, who is pastor of the Saddleback Church in Southern California, spoke several times in favor of Proposition 8 and likened gay marriage to polygamy and marriage to children.
"The president-elect has respect for the Rt. Rev. Robinson, who offered his advice and counsel over the past couple of years," an inaugural official told The Politico Web site. "It also has the benefit of further reinforcing our commitment to an open and inclusive inaugural."
"I am humbled and overjoyed at this invitation, and it will be my great honor to be there representing the Episcopal Church, the people of New Hampshire, and all of us in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community," added Robinson.
Robinson said he would love to sit down with Rick Warren but believed that the California pastor has "perpetrated lies about the gay, lesbian and bisexual community."
The event is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. Sunday. The inauguration will be two days later, on Jan. 20.